So let me see…

They put Richard Grenell on the board, they hire behind-the-scenes fixer Mike Davis, who put the knife in the back of Gail Slater, the chief antitrust officer, they even employ Ms. Alternative Facts herself, Kellyanne Conway, and THEY STILL LOSE?

This is not a story of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. This is not a story of concert ticket prices. This is a story of the Trump administration and its losing streak.

We can start with a war that’s not a war that has never been adequately explained to the public that is ruining the world economy.

Then we can go to the insane support of authoritarian Viktor Orbán, J.D. Vance even traveling to Hungary to try and boost his candidacy, with Orbán ending up being trounced…

The bottom line is when Biden was in office, the antitrust division believed it would defeat Live Nation no problem, which is why this case was never settled. Believe me, Live Nation wanted to settle.

And then after Slater was blown out and the case was going poorly in court, Mike Davis made a secret settlement with the government, leaving out not only the judge, but the government’s own attorneys and the states, and then continued the trial! It’s almost out of “The Godfather,” then again, the Mafia has a code, whereas Trump makes it up as he goes.

Belief has been if you kiss his ass, if you pay fealty, it’s all going to work out.

So we’ve got law firms settling, Tim Apple giving Donald a gold award, FIFA coming up with a “Peace Prize” and Maria Corina Machado handing over her Nobel Peace Prize… But Trump and his minions can’t stop shooting themselves in the foot. It’s almost laughable. Pam Bondi with her burn book then getting blown out. Noem with her jet and its bedroom… Never mind nincompoops like Hegseth. They all thought they were invulnerable, because they were the sweepers pushing aside the dung in the wake of Trump’s elephant.

It’s even worse… The Supreme Court has legitimized so much of Trump’s behavior.

SO WHY IS HE LOSING!

The only question in this trial is why it took the jury so long to reach a verdict. I truly thought they’d come back in an hour or two, max. The fact that they were taking their time over days made me believe that this slam dunk might not be one.

But it turned out to be one.

As for the attorneys on both sides?

Latham & Watkins was arguing the law, that’s how the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger got approved in the first place, high-priced lawyers negotiating with the government. But when the states grew balls and decided to continue the trial on their own, they hired Jeffrey Kessler, who’d just helped Michael Jordan behead the indomitable NASCAR.

Kessler simplified the case, he did the opposite of Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden in the O.J. trial. He didn’t bore the jury with endless evidence, he just focused on the concept of Live Nation being a monopoly, he kept driving that home.

Anybody with any legal experience knew that Live Nation was f*cked from the get-go. A jury trial? Come on… Which is one of the reasons they settled, on very advantageous terms not long after the trial began.

So what happens now…

One thing is for sure, ticket prices won’t go down. They’re a function of the marketplace. To get people to understand ticketing is like trying to get them to understand how AI works… They don’t, and they trust misinformation all day long.

But they want to go to the show and they believe that since they’re big fans they’re entitled to a ticket up close for under a hundred bucks.

So really, this trial is inside baseball. About what happens behind the scenes…other promoters, other ticketing companies. Because the public? It ain’t gonna benefit at all, not really.

Then again, it feels good. Like when Microsoft was beaten in the Internet Explorer case back in 2000. If you look at the details, they’re not that different. Microsoft was using its leverage to dominate the browser wars, never mind control the internet.

But Google came along and now owns the browser market with Chrome. Begging the question if you need antitrust enforcement or the market will always solve the underlying problem.

But even more interesting is despite all of Steve Ballmer’s missteps, like buying the handset business of Nokia, twenty five years later Microsoft is once again a monolith! It pivoted to cloud storage and…

If Live Nation loses Ticketmaster… It may be case closed, but business goes on. Live Nation dwarfs its competitors in terms of venues and shows. I don’t see anybody else ponying up that kind of money. And this scale throws off sponsorship revenue that allows the company to pay artists in many cases more than anybody else.

Of course having Ticketmaster is an advantage. But if you believe slicing Ticketmaster from Live Nation cuts the concert promotion company off at the knees, you’re sorely mistaken.

Then again, what we’ve got here is the power of the individual. No one else could  make SFX/Clear Channel what ultimately became Live Nation work. Michael Rapino sliced off the legitimate theatre division, Ticketmaster was merged with the company. You can take away some of the toys, but not the vision.

But what really killed Live Nation in this case was human nature. American business is about cutting corners, and the odds of being caught are now infinitesimal. Trump has said that bribing foreign entities for business is legit. Trump has eviscerated the IRS. But the business of most companies doesn’t elicit the passion that concerts do.

So…

Did the Live Nation employees do everything they were accused of? OF COURSE THEY DID! They wanted to look good to the boss, they wanted to get their bonus, a bigger bonus. They used every tool in the box, business is all about leverage anyway.

FURTHERMORE, they put it all in e-mail. What dummies. When it’s questionable, don’t document, because if you don’t there’s always plausible deniability. If you think the employees who crossed the line in this case are masterminds, geniuses, you’ve never worked in the entertainment business, which is the opposite of tech, it’s based on bullying, pure power, good luck with the rules, there aren’t any. So you expect the people in the trenches to observe a consent decree? Give me a break.

Now we’ve got to wait for the judge’s decision… To tell you the truth, as I’ve stated previously, I don’t see how anything but a clear division, a breakup, works. Yup, separating Ticketmaster from Live Nation. Because putting conditions on a deal, counting on Live Nation to do the right thing, that hasn’t worked.

But I can’t predict the future.

Believe me, Live Nation will look to settle again. But the company has burned out its good will with the judge, by going behind his back and settling with the government and not cluing him in on the deal.

And if there’s no settlement, there will be an appeal that goes on for years and…

What is being sold is a unique, once in a lifetime experience. It’s not  like a movie, which opens up in thousands of theatres across the nation, then plays on the home screen forever. No, the act may never play the songs from this tour ever again. The act might never go on the road ever again. In a world where you’ve got no trust in the government, where you need a north star, you rely on music to get you through. You want to see the acts live, you’ve GOT to see the acts live. And in a digital world lived on our devices, concerts are one of the few places where you can get together with your brethren in real life and have a good time.

The concert business has never been healthier. More acts are doing more business. Both old and new. You can play arenas on your first tour! That never happened before.

So if you saw Billy Joel… You  might not ever be able to see him again. And, you can tell the tale of seeing him for the rest of your life!

So even if Ticketmaster is severed from Live Nation, the latter company is not defeated.

But Donald Trump and his gang that can’t shoot straight? As the losses pile up… People and corporations will no longer be afraid of him. They’ll pull up to the bumper and put up a fight. Akin to Ukraine and Russia.

As for today’s success… This is the greatest victory for the public in years, there might not be parties in the street, but the big bad evil empire has been crushed, brought down a notch, TAKE THAT!

Could Live Nation have foreseen this?

OF COURSE!

But to rein in its employees would be antithetical to its mission.

In other words, the company was asking for it. And the only people pissed today, who are upset, are those who work at Live Nation itself. The rest of the business, the public, they’re partying like it’s 1999.

But it’s still 2026. The government still doesn’t understand the concert business, nor does the public.

But this is perceived as a victory for the little guy.

HOORAY!

This guy was one of a kind.

Scratch that… There was a group of concert promoters, who built this business, who had personality, moxie and could tell a story that you’d repeat for the rest of your life!

That’s what concert promoters have…stories. It’s not like working at a label, the relationship with the acts is different. And they continue. And even though you may only intersect with the act once a year, you’re considered a close friend, because the nature of a rock act is…they go on the road, come back home and write and record a record and then go back on the road…such that these concert promoters may be some of the people they see most!

Anyway…

Donald Tarlton, aka Donald K. Donald, just died.

If you’re under the age of 60 do you care?

If you’re under the age of 50 do you care?

If you’re under the age of 40 you definitely don’t care. You’ve never heard of him and never will. And the business is completely different today.

You see the concert business in the sixties and into the seventies was just like tech in the nineties and first decade of this century. It was the wild west, filled with entrepreneurs. And for everyone who succeeded, there were tons who failed.

These were not fat cats, just young people with an idea. They could tell something was in the air. They listened to the radio, they perceived the power of music and they knew that kids would want to see these acts…why shouldn’t they do it? They could do it, right? Borrow some money and put on a show?

Like I said, not everybody succeeded. But there were those who did and rose above and then Frank Barsalona created a territorial system… You played his acts in your assigned territory only, you did not poach from others, and Frank would not only give you the stars, but the up and comers, which you had an obligation to play. And the system was great, and functioned such that everybody got rich, until Robert Sillerman decided to roll up these old promoters and I could run you through a few steps but the end result is today that company is known as Live Nation and it is publicly-traded.

Concert promotion is mature. Only for the big boys (and girls).

In the old days everybody worked together, if your date stiffed, you’d give the promoter money back, so they could stay in business and book you and pay you in the future. No one gives money back to Live Nation, it’s a public company, SCREW THEM!

It’s no longer a family business, it’s just business.

Forget the labels. They’re moribund. Museums of old records with a few new ones thrown in for sexiness. These new records in few genres get press, but all the action is in live, where if you succeed, you can be a lifer. Now it used to be that labels shuffled the deck every few years, and that’s no longer true, but that’s just evidence of the calcification of the business.

As for live… It’s all about relationships, and it all comes down to money. All the b.s. at the labels, deciding who to sign, messing with the act’s creativity, that doesn’t exist in live. In live if you can sell tickets, everybody wants to be in business with you and they’ll pay the freight. And unlike with recordings, the act gets the lion’s share of the money.

Anyway, Donald Tarlton was there in the sixties. His first breakthrough was at the world’s fair, Expo 67.

Now I hate to tell the story, because Donald told it so well. And you’ll see reference to it in some of the obits, but… Bottom line, Donald made a bad deal for a club at the fair, and it wouldn’t work financially. But then he had a brilliant idea. Make it a HALF HOUR disco! And parade people in and out.

And I’m not going to give you more, because you’ve got to know, Donald would not only tell you the story, HE’D ACT IT OUT! Shuffling the people out of the disco. And boy could Donald tell a story, smiling with nuance.

And there are two other absolutely legendary stories…

One involving Don Fox in New Orleans… Let’s just say that Fox was led to believe he was at risk of the Big Guy coming, and he didn’t want that… Yup, not the police, not the mafia, please don’t let it happen. And when Fox was freaking out, it turned out to be TARLTON who was the Big Guy, and at the time he was a big guy!

And he’d wear those white shoes. He looked like he just came from the golf course or Miami Beach, but underneath it all, he was more rock and roll  than most of the people in the business today.

And he grew an empire, with records, with acts you’ve heard of, who sold millions, but then…

There was the time he played the Who. Great show, all good. And then in the middle of the night, he got a call they’d been locked up…right now I don’t remember the offense, I think it had something to do with being rude to the cops. Anyway, to bail them out, Donald needed over 10k in cash. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!

This is what a concert promoter does, fixes problems, comes through.

They couldn’t wait until the banks opened the next morning, the band had to move on down the road.

SO…

In the middle of the night, Donald calls the local mafioso. Who gives him the money in a paper bag and… Donald shows up at the jail with the cash and the Who are in the cell, with their hands on the bars, singing DON’T FENCE ME IN!

Yes, Donald knew the local mafioso. You had to. Everybody knew everybody, it was a shady business. And it’s not completely clean today.

Now the last time I saw Donald in Toronto… He was hobbled, a bit out of it, we nodded heads at each other, I greeted him in passing, but I just couldn’t stop and converse like I normally would. He’d lost more than a step, and I just couldn’t handle it.

Because Donald Tarlton was so alive. Told the best road stories I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot! And he wasn’t threatening, not intimidating, like so many of his peers. He was nice, congenial…not that he did not know where every dollar was buried.

Put Donald in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Put all of the legends from Barsalona’s circuit.

But Donald was in Montreal, which in America is seen as an outpost where people speak French. But Donald was a player, as savvy as anybody in Canada, anybody in the United States.

And now he’s gone.

And he’s not the only one.

They were all characters, entrepreneurs, and the one thing they had in common was they could tell STORIES! To this day, each and every concert promoter…

You think you want to hang backstage with the band? NO WAY! You want to hang with the promoter, go to dinner with the promoter.

Which I did with Donald.

And I remember that night with that woman in Toronto…

No, it’s not as dark as you think, but it was intimate and it was important and now Donald is gone.

And it’s not like the people you see on stage. But in many ways Donald was a bigger rock star than anybody plying the boards. Because he did it his way and he LASTED! Yup, decade after decade, looking like a guy who sold insurance. But Donald sold music, he created events people will never forget, he signed and distributed legendary music and…

It was a thrill, an honor to know Donald…

No, I don’t want to overstate it… I guess that Donald treated me as an equal, and he told his stories this way. He didn’t lord them over you, he wanted you in on the joke. And you were, and you’d never forget them or him.

I certainly won’t.

It’s inflammation.

What caused said inflammation?

Could be an infection, it’s not clear.

What happens now?

Well, I take a steroid dosepak to try and fix the condition. And in three months, I return for another scope.

But there is one caveat, they have to run the urine sample. Theoretically that could show cancer, but the odds are very low.

So I’m relieved, but right now numb.

Actually, the anticipatory anxiety began on Sunday night.

Oh, that’s right, I did not tell you I employed a connection to move the appointment up to today. One’s entire life is about building relationships that pay dividends. Ultimately, it’s all about who you know, and in this case I know someone who could pull the right strings and I’m forever grateful, if for no other reason than I don’t have to continue to remain in suspended animation, wondering what is going on for two more weeks. Then again, to say I’ve returned to normal emotionally is not quite accurate.

As for my dick… IT DOESN’T HURT!

Not significantly more than when I went in there…there’s still some residual pain from the first cystoscopy.

As the appointment approached my anxiety became more about the procedure than the result. Because really, last time it was ultimately so painful that I just could not imagine tolerating that level of discomfort once again.

And then I had to wait. Which I can tolerate. But at Clark Urology the last time they saw me EARLY, they’re usually close to on time.

And what do you do during that window? Funny what you can look up on your phone that has nothing to do with everyday life. Reminds me when I have to take opioids after an operation. You can’t concentrate and work, you just mindlessly surf. In this case at adultconfessions.com Don’t ask me how I found it… I just clicked through on some Google result and ended up there and I continued to read the stories, which are as far removed from the war in Iran as one can get.

But eventually my name was called.

By my buddy the nurse. We picked up where we left off. We talked watches and cars and I undressed and I lay down with my penis through an opening while he lacquered me up and…

Waited for the doctor to come in.

As for the doctor…

Never forget, everybody’s an expert. You do know why I have this condition, don’t you? THE COVID VACCINE! Yup, multiple people e-mailed me that. And then there were those who said not to trust western medicine, that I needed to take these supplements from some doctor in Hawaii and… Do people really believe this stuff? Is this how distrusted expertise has become? I remember when my back went nuclear three decades ago. Everybody told me two things…do not go to physical therapy and do not get a steroid shot, never ever!

So I didn’t go to physical therapy, just stayed with acupuncture for months, and never got a steroid shot… But physical therapy ultimately cured me. And when my back was bad before Covid, they shot me up and the pain went away! But I listened to the scuttlebutt, from the people warning me about all the potential ill effects. Don’t listen, trust the experts.

So I’m trusting the system, I’m not at the stage where you get a second opinion. I was going to use the expert I was referred to. But my inbox started to go wild with all these authorities telling me who to use, because obviously their doctor is the best. Well, the funny thing is…most of the people said to use the doctor I was seeing, so that was good confirmation.

And when the doctor finally arrived. I expressed my anxiety.

And he shrugged, close to a wince. So I told him about the pain I’d experienced last time, that I was more worried about the procedure than the results, which at this point I really was.

He said there would be no problem.

AND THERE WASN’T!

Reminds me of when I had my first bone marrow test when I got cancer. To say it was painful… This nurse is drilling into my hip bone, and not only was the procedure excruciating, the recovery took weeks.

And the next time they were preparing me for a bone marrow test…

I locked into the conversation. They seemed to be talking about the previous test, which had been months before, I mean how could they remember it? And then they started to soothe me in advance, told me it wouldn’t be like the last time, and they’d FIRED THAT NURSE AFTER MY PROCEDURE!

Whew!

And that second bone marrow test was light years less painful and with today’s cystoscopy I had the same experience. Actually, the injection of the lidocaine in advance in preparation was more painful.

And as I’m girding for the worst, the doctor tells me to look at the monitor. And I can see that I’m bleeding, not heavily, but I still am bleeding, which I thought would not be the case, since I hadn’t been urinating blood, VISIBLE blood.

But inky blood was streaming off the bladder wall… Well, low-level streaming. And the doctor is moving the camera, he points out the various bleeding areas and says it’s like the San Andreas Fault. After he says it doesn’t look like cancer, that cancer looks completely different.

And it wasn’t hit and run, he drove the camera around my bladder, zeroed in on the problem areas, and it wasn’t painful at all.

And he said the problem was inflammation.

So what caused the inflammation?

He did not know. Could be an infection, could be an injury, it’s unclear. But compared to having cancer, this is no big deal, this is GREAT!

And he wasn’t upset. You’ve got to be there when the doctor does the test and the results are not good. Unfortunately, I’ve experienced this. Their whole demeanor changes, this is no longer routine. But today it was no big deal!

Then again, as he was whipping off his rubber gloves, the doctor did say he couldn’t be absolutely definitive until he ran the urine test. It could show cancer. But when I quizzed him, like I said above, he told me the odds were extremely low.

So…

What have I learned?

That first night, after I stopped bleeding and saw no need to go to the emergency room? That was stupid. This problem needed to be addressed. After all, my bladder is still bleeding, however lightly, nearly three weeks later.

Two, you’ve got to plug into a major health system, with not only world class experts, but more than one of them. You don’t want to be at the mercy of the one person in town, who probably doesn’t do this every day.

Third… When you’ve got a health issue, everything else becomes secondary.

Fourth… I was positively stunned at the response I got to my issue, the caring and the warmth. I mean I expected a response, but not of this intensity and magnitude. To quote James Taylor:

“Once you tell somebody

The way that you feel

You can feel it beginning to ease

I think it’s true what they say

About the squeaky wheel

Always getting the grease”

“Shower the People”

So we will now be returning to our usual programming, where you disagree with me and put me down.

But I can handle it. It’s much better than what I was facing!

“Hollywood Heavyweights Sign Letter Opposing Paramount’s Deal for Warner Bros. – The letter warns that the deal will result in fewer jobs for creatives, along with higher costs and less choice for audiences.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/business/media/hollywood-letter-opposing-paramount-warner-bros-deal.html

You can’t stop progress…

Or why does Hollywood continue to fight the last war?

Do I like Bari Weiss in control of news not only at CBS, but CNN?

Do I like Zaslav walking away with a billion dollars?

No, but the story here is not the consolidation of aged film studios, but the explosion of alternative avenues of distribution.

Statistics, as well as analysts, tell us Netflix’s main combatant for viewing time is not Disney+ or Amazon Prime or Hulu or network or cable, but YOUTUBE!

The barrier to entry on YouTube is nonexistent! Anybody can create and play.

As for the amount of money they say it takes to make a movie…

Let’s see, music is the canary in the coal mine for digital disruption. So what happened in music when the avenues of distribution were changed, from physical retail to online streaming? Creation EXPLODED!

Used to be it cost a fortune to go into a studio and make a major label album. Now you can do it on you laptop in your home. And even the biggest stars are making music more cheaply, why do you need a big studio to cut vocals? The entire industry has changed as a result of technology. But we hear again and again from those in the film world that the game must remain the same. Why are movies immune? They’ve got no antitrust protection like the NFL…and the government is investigating that right now, since you have to pay multiple outlets to see all the games, the three (four) network availability is long gone.

So…

Let’s talk about distribution… The problem isn’t getting in the theatre, being available at all. Even completely indie pictures that are not picked up at film festivals can be monetized on YouTube and other services.

As for technology… You can and even auteurs like Steven  Soderbergh, have shot complete movies on iPhones.

Now let’s be clear, if you’ve got tens of millions of dollars, great gaffers, never mind cinematographers, and support with craft service can you achieve a better-looking film than you can for bupkes? OF COURSE! But the dirty little secret is what makes a film successful is story, not look. Look is secondary. But so many went to film school and put look first… Maybe they should be forced to work on the cheap.

Furthermore, the major studios have curtailed production dramatically. Why? Because the audience cannot support more films. Theatrical attendance is down. Trying to keep the theatres propped up with numerous films is akin to trying to prop up your local full-price physical bookstore when there’s the Amazon alternative. As for publishers, they killed the e-book, and what is the result? BUSINESS IS DOWN! That’s what keeping your business in the past looks like.

So, would creative people like more outlets for their wares?

OF COURSE!

But talk to mastering engineers, there used to be a few elite people, now there are a zillion and you can even do it with LANDR and no people.

But it’s not only in Hollywood that no one can lose their job, but America in general. Just because you trained for a gig, even worked it for a decade or two, you’re not entitled to lifetime employment, no one gets that in America anymore, but film people believe they deserve this?

Films are now a home experience. If I hear one more ancient self-satisfied director talk about seeing flicks in a theatre…

I’m going to whip out twenty five year old stories where the major labels and classic acts said that MP3s were inferior and music must be listened to on a purchased CD. MP3s were good enough for the public, and they loved the portability. In an on demand world do you really want me to plan ahead to see a movie in a theatre with those who do attend on their smartphones and…talk about a bad experience. My home screen may not be as large, but the film starts when I want it to, I can pause it for a bathroom break or a phone call…this is not a step backward, but progress.

Can we discuss overseas production? Absolutely, but in the same breath we have to talk about local incentives, i.e. states competing against each other with tax breaks.

The film business is far from perfect, but…

It is a business. And Warner Bros. Discovery is LADEN with debt. Wasn’t that the complaint just recently? That Zaslav was killing projects left and right? It is a business, and something had to be done about that debt.

This is the greatest time in history to be a creator. The means of production and distribution are at your fingertips. Do they look identical to the ones of the past? No, but how come Hollywood not only overpays its executives, but believes its cheese should never move?

This is a bad look. Do you really think the public has sympathy for these creators protesting? It’s like the billionaires lobbying against the California wealth tax. Who exactly has compassion for these people?

Certainly not the public… Which is overwhelmed with content. Never mind so many angry that studios don’t even make the kinds of films they like anymore.

As for consolidation… Once again, it happened in music first. And I must admit, the three remaining majors do have undue power as a result of their catalogs, but that wouldn’t differ whether there were three or six, it’s hard for an independent company to compete with an entity with these past treasures…

However, when it comes to streaming music, the majors have negotiating leverage, but ultimately, Spotify, et al, give all rightsholders essentially the same split. Maybe on the terms the majors negotiated, but there’s a limit to how good a deal they can make, otherwise the DSPs will be put out of business, they need a profit too. As for that profit… Physical retailers got a hundred percent markup. Spotify, et al, give about 70% to rightsholders, and there’s no manufacturing, no shipping and no returns!

But what has happened as the majors have consolidated?

The indie field has burgeoned. That’s an understatement, the indie slice of the pie keeps growing and that of the major labels’ new artists’ keeps going down. Nature abhors a vacuum. The majors can’t break an act, so nimble indies are running circles around them.

Actually, the same thing is happening in video too, it’s just that smug Hollywood doesn’t want to admit it. Sure, there’s dreck on TikTok and YouTube, but there’s a ton of dreck coming from the studios too. But all the innovation seems to be coming online. That’s where the bleeding edge is, and that’s what people always want in entertainment, something new and different.

We are not living in the days of yore… Even the aforementioned CBS News and CNN… They reach a tiny fragment of the public, most people get their news from a zillion different sites. Do you really think America wants to see the same few studio films? OF COURSE NOT!

And of course studios make TV shows too… But come on, streaming has added so many new shows, there may not be as much production now, but compared to the pre-Netflix days?

How can so many be so out of touch? Even Lars Ulrich ultimately embraced the techies. As for not wanting Metallica’s work tapes distributed, the script has now flipped. Acts are begging for any attention at all! They’re not only putting out everything in the vault, they’re creating material especially for social media, to try and gain traction.

So I’ve got no sympathy.

And who are you complaining to anyway? Trump? Like Trump is on the side of Hollywood?

As the Eagles sang three decades ago, GET OVER IT!